A Beacon of Glass

I noticed an empty glass ramune bottle half-buried in the damp needle loam beside the sunken basalt rocks. The night air had settled thick and cold between the twisted roots, but the heavy glass remained clear and unbroken. Kneeling slowly, I reached out with pale, steady fingers and cleared the dark soil clogging its narrow neck. From a nearby decaying stump, I collected three soft, glowing larvae of forest fireflies and gently nudged them inside the hollow vessel. Standing the bottle upright upon a flat, black volcanic stone, its emerald glass caught the faint, living light, turning the forgotten flask into a quiet lantern to ease any restless wanderer passing through the dark.